Cowboys, Alamodome to discuss extension

City of San Antonio officials will meet next week with Cowboys marketing director John Hickman to discuss extending the training camp contract at the Alamodome, Michael Sawaya, director of convention, sports and entertainment facilities for the city, told the Express-News on Friday.

The five-year deal between the Cowboys and the city expires after the 2011 camp.

Sawaya described the upcoming meeting with Hickman as a “brainstorming” session designed to establish the framework for an extension.

“They want to be here and we want them here,” Sawaya said. “We are going to look at the agreement and see if there is anything we can do to make it better. We’ll ask them, ‘What did you like? What works for you? How can the city enhance that.’ A real open discussion.”

Sawaya said the city will try to convince the Cowboys to hold the entire camp at the Alamodome rather than split it between San Antonio and Oxnard, Calif., where the team will work out for two weeks after breaking camp at the dome Aug. 6.

“Ideally, we would like to have it here as much as we can,” Sawaya said. “We prefer to have it the entire time…We will say to them, ‘Stay here the whole time and this is why it’s worth it to do that.”

Sawaya said he has no problem with the Cowboys continuing to have rent-free use of the dome. Under the current contract, the city collects all of the revenue generated from parking and concessions.

“That’s worked fine with us,” Sawaya said of the rent-free deal. “We’ve been able to exceed our expectations and they’ve been able to make it work as well. One thing they have done really well is promote attendance at camp and that has really served us well. They get people in the building and then we figure out how to enhance our revenue streams to make it work…If they can get 200,000 people in the building, we ought to be able to figure out how to get a coke in their hands.”